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Saturday, February 05, 2005

India's newest failed state

State government negotiates with terrorists. Terrorists pull out of peace process, and resume armed struggle. Top terrorist leaders from all over India gather for a ‘plenary’ in the jungle. Special police forces corner them. Terrorists call central and state government ministers. Ministers ask police to stand down. Terrorists escape. Terrorists express umbrage. ‘Concerned citizens’ too express umbrage — at the government’s attempt to capture terrorist leader! The government is apologetic.

Unfortunately, you don't wake up from this macabre dream. It is real, and it just happened in Andhra Pradesh.

Pai calls for the dismissal for the Andhra Pradesh government, because "[f]ar from being India’s second IT success story, Andhra Pradesh risks becoming its newest failed state." Unfortunately, that's hardly likely, because the central government itself has been too soft on internal terrorism. As an Indian Express editorial that Pai had linked to in an earlier post pointed out:

[T]he Central government is in visible and confused retreat on a significant law and order problem affecting more than 120 districts spread across 12 states. New Delhi has announced aid to Kathmandu to tackle Left extremist violence, but to state governments it has signalled a hands-off approach. Hyderabad is free to strike ceasefires, while, to take just one example, in Maharashtra cops struggle to deal with attacks by cadres resuscitated and regrouped in AP.

The situation cries out for a policy of zero tolerance against terrorists, so that the naxalite rebellions across the country can be quelled in the same manner as the terrorist problem in Punjab was. Isn't it ironic, then, that KPS Gill, the man responsible for clearing up that particular law-and-order problem in Punjab, is today himself being accused of "unleashing terror" in the hockey federation that he heads. Kill two birds with one huge rock, I'd say: send Gill to AP with unlimited powers to crack down on the naxalites, and hand over the hockey federation to, um, anyone else.